


The Course of True Love Never Did Run On Linux

by Everdistant



Category: BanG Dream! (Anime), BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, decent amount of stuff set in the MMO rinko and ako play, if thats your bag, so i managed to work fight scenes into a romcom fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-06
Updated: 2018-05-06
Packaged: 2019-05-03 01:19:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14557740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Everdistant/pseuds/Everdistant
Summary: Ako feels like Tomoe and Ran should be together, and so she enacts the greatest masterplan the world has ever seen. It's mostly an excuse to hold Rinko's hand, but don't tell anyone.





	The Course of True Love Never Did Run On Linux

"Keep that Scorch up!" Lunamaria Blackheart shouted over the din of the battle, staff twirling as she prepared another Fear Flare. The wisps of dark purple flames swirled around the tip of her staff, forming into a ball of energy about the size of her torso. A moment later, it surged forward, crashing into [Darkfried the Wanderer] with enough force to push the armored giant backwards.

Lunamaria Blackheart and Rinde Firesong were deep into the bowels of the newly discovered Labyrinth of Forgotten Souls, and Lunamaria was loving it. Dark purple color scheme? Check? Skulls lining the walls? Check. Enemies that were almost tailor made for her skeletons to tank for days? Check.

The only issue was that she could hardly focus on it. Which sucked, because she'd been looking forward to this new dungeon for the past month.

But she - that is, Ako, the girl in real life, not Lunamaria, the necromancer - was too busy thinking about her sister. She loved Tomoe! More than anything in the world. Tomoe'd never made her feel bad, or anything, so it wasn't that. Frankly, if it was that, it'd be a lot easier to deal with, since she could do that on her own.

But she was worried about Tomoe because of Tomoe's problems, and the thing about Tomoe's problems was that Tomoe mostly just rode them out. It meant Ako didn't usually worry about her. But sometimes there were problems that Tomoe couldn't ride out, but tried to ride out anyway, and -

"Uhm, did it just oneshot the knightmare...?"

A knightmare was Lunamaria's most powerful summon. An undead knight on a skeletal steed. High HP, low damage, capable of healing himself, gave an aura that made nearby party members heal themselves when they dealt damage. Thirty minute cooldown.

[Darkfried the Wanderer] had just casually smacked it aside with the flat of his sword, bones scattering everywhere.

"Never fear!" Cried Lunamaria, tapping her staff twice against the floor as she prepared another spell. "I still have my Bone Drake -"

Then [Darkfried the Wanderer] swung his sword, blade smacking into the ground violently, a dark blue shockwave racing towards the two mages. If he could oneshot her knightmare, he could probably -

 

* * *

 

Lunamaria cupped her cheek in her hand as she sat on the bench, pouting over at Rinde. They were back in the capital now, a long corpse run and a modest resurrection fee their payment for their troubles.

"Maybe if I kept up a damage debuff?" Lunamaria pondered, already writing down the abilities she'd seen him use in her in-game notebook. The dungeon had only unlocked a few hours ago, and she enjoyed discovering stuff like this for herself. There was that shockwave ability, and - maybe some kind of defense ability? She hadn't been paying attention.

Rinde, for her part, was already running around trying to get more elixirs. She ran past Lunamaria, then five seconds later the reply came. "We might actually need a tank..." she admitted.

Lunamaria wouldn't stand for that. Except she stood up. "No way, Rinrin! Who was it that conquered the Sea King's Labyrinth with just us two?"

"Us...?" Rinde guessed, running past Lunamaria again, a heavy box of alchemy materials in her hands.

"Us!" Lunamaria snapped back. Rinde didn't reply, and Lunamaria, tapping her foot, snapped her fingers.

Rinde appeared right next to Lunamaria hands still outstretched to hand the box over to whatever alchemist she was employing. Lunamaria had activated a teleportation spell, after all, transporting the targeted party member right next to her.

"... I could make it so you can't teleport me..."

"Ohoho, and miss my dark embrace whenever you wanted to? -- Also, you'd have to pay for flights out to dungeons."

"Why do necromancers have the teleportation spells..."

"Arcanists have them too!"

"Arcanists are really, uhm, really bad."

Lunamaria couldn't argue with that, but she'd felt like she'd lost the point anyway. She sat back down on the bench, robes shifting as she furled them around herself, like a kid in a thick blanket.

"Rinrin," Lunamaria started, glancing up at the fire mage. "Did I seem distracted to you?"

Rinde pondered the question for three seconds, then nodded. Lunamaria glared up at her.

"Okay, distracted *how*?"

"Distracted like you forgot to put the defense buff up on your Knightmare."

Oooh. That explained a lot, actually. It also made Lunamaria smack her palm against her forehead. "Erm... sorry about that. The truth is, my mind's been working overtime!"

"About... what?" Rinde asked, glancing nervously over her shoulder and taking an experimental step towards the alchemist.

Lunamaria snapped her fingers again, Rinde appearing next to her in a puff of dark smoke. "About sis - actually, this conversation has nothing to do with our adventuring ways. Would you like to meet up and discuss it in, uh, the mortal plane?"

"I thought... this was the mortal plane... and the real world was our angelic selves...?"

"I want fries!" Lunamaria said, like she hadn't heard her. "Besides, it'll be like two hours before we can try the dungeon again."

"We could... burn some mats? Uhm, after you ever going to use those Eternal Flames? You have at least nineteen..." Rinde murmured.

Lunamaria was already logged off by the time the words had left her mouth.

 

* * *

 

"Okay, so," Ako started, chewing happily on her fries between sentences. Her and Rinko had met up and headed to the restaurant within ten minutes of logging off, and Ako could tell because they were both underdressed. Casual gaming day clothes - t-shirts and jeans. Ako felt a little exposed without her usual clothes on, but Rinko was around, so whatever.

Rinko was waiting patiently for her to finish speaking, anyway. And nibbling on the edge of a chicken nugget. Rinko ate so slowly. It was kind of cute.

They pushed one of their trays to the side, dumping both their orders of fries onto it. Ako's burger stayed on her side of the table, too, but Rinko dumped her chicken nuggets onto the pile as well. Such a giver.

"My sister's, like, the coolest person ever!"

Rinko nodded, because she couldn't argue with facts.

"But my sister's *so* cool that she can do everything by herself, right?"

Rinko nodded, because she'd accidentally gotten spicy chicken nuggets and was busy washing down the spiciness.

"But just because she can do everything by herself doesn't mean she should, right? And, well, I think something might be bugging her. No, not bugging,.. eating away at her very soul! Which is at least twice as bad as bugging her!"

Rinko gasped for effect, then started peeling the spicy skins off her chicken nuggets. Ako reached over, palms flat. Rinko handed the dreaded nuggets over, and Ako began to peel them for her as she spoke.

"So you know Ran? Has that cool red dye job even though sis won't let me dye my hair until I'm older than Ran is now, which is a foul act of oppression?"

"I do," Rinko finally spoke, now that she wasn't contending with nuggets. "Did... she and your sister have an argument?"

Ako hadn't actually considered that possibility. She leaned back in her seat, tapped her finger to her chin, then shook her head. "No, I don't think so... at least, not like, an argument-argument?"

"Then what do you mean...?"

Ako handed over the now spicy-less nuggets, considered for a second, then popped the skin of one into her mouth with a satisfying crunch. As she chewed, she reached over to their shared tray, picking up two fries.

"Okay, so, this is Ran," Ako said, lifting up a small fry that was a bit burnt at one end. "And this is sis," she lifted up the largest fry of them all, this time, bigger than any of her fingers and at least three times the size of the first one.

"That is really accurate," Rinko murmured.

"I have divined the truths of their very souls," Ako agreed, bouncing the fries in her fingers, one in each hand. "Anyway," she started, holding them up to make sure Rinko could see clearly.

"Usually, Sis and Ran are like this," she pushed the two fries together until they were touching each other. "And a little bit ago, they were like *this,*" she leaned the Tomoe fry down, wrapped its tip around the tip of the Ran fry.

"... Strangling...?"

"Holding hands!" Ako corrected. "But now, they're like this," she pulled the fries the full length of the table apart, Ran on one end and Tomoe on the other.

"That seems... exaggerated..." Rinko murmured, glancing between the two fries.

"Okay, fine, more like this," Ako held them at opposite ends of the tray. At Rinko's furrowed brow, she held them at hand length apart, and Rinko seemed pleased by that, so Ako decided it had been worth it.

"They still hang out and stuff," Ako bent the Tomoe fry forward, like it was a drumstick. "And Afterglow's fine. But - iunno. She doesn't come over on weekends or anything, and Sis hasn't gone out to eat with her lately. I think..."

Ako trailed off, setting the fries down together. This was a wild guess, but Tomoe was her sister, and this was something sisters could tell.

"I think Sis *likes* her, but is afraid of telling her, so she's just kind of keeping her distance."

Rinko nodded. "That sounds... like a pretty cruel thing to do to someone..."

"Yeah," Ako agreed. "If you like someone, you should tell them right away. Speak your heart's desire!"

Rinko, chewing on chicken nuggets that Ako had peeled for her, and Ako, telling her all this because Rinko was the person she trusted the most in the whole world, let the moment pass without comment.

"But Sis doesn't like making trouble for people. She's super responsible. Which is what's cool about her, but she'd probably keep it to herself forever if you let her..."

Ako trailed off, a little scared of the possibility. Her sister wasn't weeping in the corners of darkened rooms or anything, but she'd seemed distant lately. What if that only got worse? That's why -

"That's why we have to do something!" Ako declared, getting to her feet and pointing her finger up to the ceiling. "We shall be as, uhm, uhm... who's the guy with the heart arrows?"

"Cupid...?"

"Cupid! You're so smart, Rinrin!"

Rinko smiled into her chicken nuggets as Ako sat back down. Ako, for her part, was about to finally dig back into her burger when she heard footsteps to her right.

"Oh. Hey."

It was Moca - Ako knew all of Tomoe's friends on sight - still in her work uniform from the convenience store. She tilted her head down at the two younger girls.

"You two seem excited. Good happy meal toy?"

"We don't get happy meals," Ako murmured, crossing her arms beneath her chest. Tomoe's friends always seemed so much older, so much cooler - being babied by them was embarrassing.

Moca didn't seem to get any of that, though. She reached over to the table, taking two fries off the table. To Ako's horror, they were Tomoe and Ran, and Moca slipped them into her mouth without a second thought.

"Cannibal..." Rinko mumbled, off to the side, tears in the corners of her eyes. Ako was gawking in shock.

"...?" Moca blinked wordlessly down at them, then continued on once she was done with her snack. "Well, you guys don't stay out too late or spend too much money. Tomoe gives me fifty yen every time I say that to you."

"You mercenary barbarian."

"More into paladins," Moca shrugged as she turned to leave. Ako held her hand out, catching the back of her work apron before she could walk away.

"Wait! Do you guys have a concert or practice today, or anything like that?"

Moca blinked some more. Ako was realizing that Moca did a lot of blinking.

With an odd sense of purpose, Moca put her finger to her chin, nodding. "Yeah. We're gonna jam once I've escaped capitalism. Did you guys want to sit in?"

Ako and Rinko glanced at each other, then shook their heads. "Just wondering," Ako replied, with a supportive nod from Rinko giving her a bonus to her Charisma stat.

"Huh," Moca murmured, brushing it off. Check successful! Quest unlocked. "We're gonna hit up that new amusement park after, probaaaaably. If you guys wanted to hang out with Tomoe for a bit."

Rinko nodded. "Perfect...!" Moca stared at her some more, and Rinko quickly retreated back into her seat.

"That has that cool haunted house, right?" Ako asked, trying her best to sound casual. "I heard about it from a friend."

"Yeah. Ran isn't so good with haunted houses, though."

Ako and Rinko shared another look. "Are you guys having a staring contest?" Moca tilted her head.

"Uh, something of the sort! Thank you very much, Moca."

"Thanks...!"

Moca stood there, tilting her head. "Okay." Then, after a moment of consideration: "Don't stay out too late or spend too much?"

"Sis isn't gonna let you get the quest rewards twice,"

"Worth a shot."

* * *

Lunamaria and Rinde were in their usual HQ, the house Rinde had bought on the outskirts of the Forlorn Forest. The zone was full of mats Lunamaria needed for her high-end spells, but for once they weren't grinding.

Instead, they were coming up with a plan. Lunamaria had a whiteboard behind her, was placing enemy markers on it, had already drawn a crude outline of the amusement park.

"Alright," Lunamaria started, patting her hand against the center of the park. "The objective of the boss fight is to get Sis and Ran alone in the haunted house."

She placed a flame icon and an icon of a muscular giant in the middle of the park, towards the triangle labeled HAUNTED HOUSE.

"There's three bosses we have to worry about, but the most threatening is probably [Himari Uehara]."

Lunamaria placed an icon of a succubus in the middle of the park, just behind the icons for Tomoe and Ran. "Her dark arts have felled many an adventurer! She gets aggro immediately and won't let you go. One time I saw her while shopping and she wound up buying me fifteen pairs of kneesocks."

Rinde nodded attentively, her personal diary open, notes being scribbled every few seconds.

"Most likely, her aggro table is based on who she sees first. We'll need some kind of distraction. Luckily, we already have contact with a high-level tank, perfectly specced to deal with her spells. We'll leave her to her."

* * *

"Couldn't you just let Tomoe-san deal with this on her own?" Misaki mumbled in the corner. Kaoru, however, was already stepping up to the metaphorical plate, flipping her hair.

"The course of true love never did run on its own," Kaoru declared. "It is up to us, as Hello, Happy World, to help it along! For what greater joy can there be than love?"

"Also, Michelle's turntable broke!" Hagumi chimed in. "So we're really bored!"

"We are!" Kokoro pumped her fist, as if being bored was the best thing to ever happen to them, if it led to this.

"Excellent! Your boredom will be alleviated forthwith!" Ako declared, tilted her head back, then began her best evil cackle. Hagumi, Kokoro, and Kaoru all joined in. Rinko and Kanon, in the corner, laughed nervously to themselves.

Misaki rubbed at her eyes.

* * *

"While - erm, Prince..."

"Prince Karys of the Kingdom of Fleeting," Rinde supplied.

"Woah, that's *really* good," Lunamaria agreed as she tapped an icon of a dashing knight onto the amusement park, just in front of Hagumi's icon. "While Prince Karys is tanking Himari's spells, we'll still need to deal with the two others. [Moca Aoba] has no aggro table, so her AI can be unpredictable. And [Tsugumi Hazawa] just targets whatever the boss nearest her is targeting."

Lunamaria could hear Rinde scribbling more notes. "Luckily, we've already completed a quest that'll pick up her aggro for us."

* * *

"Please...?" Ako and Rinko said as one, looking up at Lisa with as many tears in their eyes as they could manage.

"-- You guys used eyedrops or something," Lisa sighed, an awkward smile on her face, half-charmed and half-confused. "I'll call her, okay? Just once. And I can't promise I'll keep her on the phone that long."

Ako and Rinko high-fived, then held their hands up to Lisa. Lisa leaned down to return the high-fives, odd smile still on her face.

* * *

"That should pick up Tsugumi's aggro, as well. Which leaves us a clear path to get Ran and Sis to the haunted house!" Lunamaria declared, smacking her palm against the map. Rinde paused.

"-- How are we going to do that...?"

"Eh, we'll wing it!"

As they discussed that, there was a knock at the door - Lunamaria hastily turned the whiteboard over, then went to answer it. At the door was an androgynous knight looking fellow, a mop of messy blonde hair on his head. A quick glance above his head revealed his name to be Cappuccino Rye, which was a name so bad that Lunamaria wished she could report it to the admins.

Lunamaria looked back over her shoulder at Rinde. "Rinrin, did you go and put an ad up for Gearfried?"

"Uhm... sorry..." Rinde murmured as she wandered over to the door.

Cappuccino was an understanding fellow, at least - he seemed totally fine with waiting until tomorrow to try the run. As well, the only items he wanted priority on were platemail and swords. Which Lunamaria and Rinde couldn't use anyway.

Of course, Lunamaria didn't quite want gear from the new dungeon, but she'd save that explanation for later. Tomoe was the more important boss fight.

* * *

The stars of the night sky were already in full bloom as Ako and Rinko hid in plain sight at the entrance to the amusement park. Cough mask over her face, hair pulled back into a ponytail, sunglasses over her eyes - Ako was certain even her own sister wouldn't recognize her.

Probably.

She tugged her cough mask up further over her face as she watched the entrance, tapping her foot as she waited for Afterglow to walk in.

A figure in a bear mascot suit walked into the corner of her vision, sat down on the far end of the bench. "This is Papa Bear," Michelle sighed. "The Prince is in position."

"Excellent," Ako rubbed her hands together. "It won't be long now before her target is in our sight. Do not fail me, Papa Bear..."

"Hey, kid, quick question. Your whole deal. What is it?"

"Where's Misaki-san...?" Rinko asked, a little worried, as she leaned over Ako's shoulder. Michelle and Ako looked at her, silently. Rinko looked back.

The awkward moment was broken by the sound of footsteps and chatter - five sets of feet, five voices.

"I want to ride a rollercoaster."

"Isn't it a little late for that? I'd want to ride one in the middle of the day, so I could really see how high up I was."

"Don't they have one that goes through a lot of tunnels? We could hit that one up."

Ako and Rinko glanced at eachother. Ako was left to assume Michelle was glancing at them as well - her neck wasn't really equipped for complicated tasks like 'turning.'

Immediately, the three sprang into action, a phrase that here means 'Michelle got up and waddled off while Rinko and Ako tried to look as inconspicuous as possible.'

The hairs on the back of Ako's neck stood up as Afterglow wandered past, still chattering, Tomoe towards the back and Ran at the front. As Tomoe passed by them, she glanced over - one second, two.

"Dig your hair," Tomoe said to Ako, then continued on, apparently unaware that she'd just spoken to her sister. Once Ako was certain she was out of earshot, Ako leaned back in her seat, let out a relieved sigh.

"I knew my tails were good, but that's a little scary..."

"I guess you can't... wear it in a ponytail ever again?" Rinko murmured, reaching up to poke at Ako's hair.

"Yeah, she'd recognize it," Ako agreed, brushing herself off as she stood up. "Come on, let's shadow them!"

The two of them were exactly like shadows, ten steps behind Afterglow, ducking behind foot stands and 'you must be this tall to ride' signs as they went. And if a shadow happened to buy the other shadow cotton candy because Ako saw Rinko staring at it, well, that was just acting natural.

Rinko held the cotton candy stick out to Ako, letting her take a bite as they crouched behind a bench. They were approaching that rollercoaster they'd mentioned, a certain bear-shaped mascot handing out balloons just beside it. Mouth full of cotton, Ako lifted her hand up over the bench, gave Michelle the thumbs up.

Michelle stared at Ako's hand. Rinko popped up over the back of the bench, tried to mouth 'Ka-o-ru' in the darkness. Michelle could only shrug.

"Never fear, my kitten!" A voice called out from the darkness, stepping towards the line with ambling, awkward steps. In a trenchcoat and top hat, Hagumi moved towards Afterglow, having apparently doubled in height in the past three hours. A quick glance below her 'waist' revealed Kokoro's legs, straining to support even her relatively light friend.

Afterglow, Michelle, Ako, and Rinko all stared blankly. Hagumi struck a pose, then promptly fell over onto her side, Kokoro flopping one way and Hagumi rolling onto her feet, arms flat at her sides like nothing had happened.

"What's the haps?" Hagumi chirped. Everyone continued to stare blankly.

"Uhm, any reason you were - doing whatever that was?" Ran finally asked. Hagumi gave a mock salute, then hurried over to help Kokoro back to her feet, brushing her off.

Kokoro pointed over at Himari. "Yoohoo, fedora buddy!"

"It's really more of a trilby," Himari corrected with a pout.

Ako could feel her plan quite literally falling apart before her eyes, but she was stuck behind the bench. Frankly, stepping out from behind it would make things even weirder, so her only real option was to ride this out. She could feel Rinko's hand sliding into hers, and she squeezed it back, both of them more nervous than their goofy little plan probably deserved.

"Welll, you see, Kaoru-kun wanted to talk to you!" Hagumi and Kokoro said together, somehow, already stepping forward to take Himari's hands. Himari looked positively delighted by the idea, face lighting up, until she blinked in realization.

"Why couldn't she come get me herself, then...?"

"Well..."

* * *

"Kaoru-san, we have to go...!" Kanon murmured, as Kaoru turned the teacup's wheel with enough force to send the entire aparatus spiraling around its path.

"My, how fleeting a device this is!"

"Have you never gone in a teacup ride before...!?"

"We must give it another spin! Kanon, will you join me?"

"Tw, two people aren't going to make it go much faster!"

* * *

"She's, uhm, busy with something important! But don't worry, she'll definitely be done by the time you get there!" Hagumi explained, tugging Himari along. Himari glanced over her shoulder, but Tomoe was already waving her on.

"Go on, have a good time," Tomoe said. "Just don't do anything I wouldn't do," she added with a laugh.

"There are things Tomoe wouldn't do?" Moca hummed, tilting her head. "Hey, Tsugumi," she said after, turning towards the other girl. "Make sure Himari actually comes back sometime. Hello, Happy doesn't need two bassists."

Tsugumi blinked at that relatively reasonable statement from the whitehaired girl. "Huh? Oh, uh - sure. I'll be back in a bit, guys," she murmured as she hurried off after Himari and the two Hello, Happy World girls.

Ako and Rinko, for their part, breathed a sigh of relief, celebrated with a bite from their cotton candy each, then began to stand up - only to crouch right back down as Moca's phone rang.

"Huh? Ohhh... Lisa." She murmured, as Ran and Tomoe leaned in.

"Is it about work?" Ran asked, to a slow but steady nod from Moca.

Moca twirled her phone in her hand, held it up to her ear. "Probably. Why don't you guys go ahead? At this rate, you won't get on the ride 'til winter."

Tomoe crossed her arms, tilting her head. "Seriously?"

"Seriously," Moca repeated. She was already starting to take a few steps away, waving them off. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do," she parroted, to a grin from Tomoe and a huffy, dismissive grunt from Ran. Any subtext there went right over Ako's head.

"Wait..." Rinko murmured beside her. "They were supposed to go to the haunted house, not get on the rollercoaster..."

"Are rollercoasters romantic?" Ako asked over her shoulder at Rinko. Rinko could only shrug. Right, neither of them really had any romantic experience to draw on here. "We'll have to wing it - come on."

Tomoe and Ran were already stepping into the line, and Ako and Rinko hurried into the line just a few people behind them, adjusting their masks and sunglasses as they did. Regretfully, they had to drop their half eaten cotton candy into the trash can just before the entrance to the ride.

On the positive side, at least they were on the same go as Tomoe and Ran, just a few carts behind them. They sat down in their seats, squeezing into place. Tomoe and Ran were talking, but Ako couldn't make it out.

"Can you hear them, Rinrin?" Ako asked, tilting her head, but all Rinko gave in response was a shake of her own head. Damn it.

"Have you ever been on a rollercoaster before, Ako...?"

"-- Eh?"

At that moment, Ako and Rinko realized they were on a rollercoaster they were barely even tall enough for.

The ride clacked forward, like her grandpa's old car, giving Ako a jump. She could almost feel the individual bumps and grooves in the ride's track, and it was not an appealing sensation. At all.

"... Have you been on a rollercoaster before, Rinrin?"

"No, that's why I was asking... you..."

The ride crested over the first hill, peeking out from the walls covering it, the night sky overhead.

Then it plunged.

* * *

The ride - Ako later learned it was named The Other Side - was a series of high speed declines, followed by slow inclines. The tunnels on the inclines gave it a spooky atmosphere, especially with a few strung up props - skeletons, demons, that sort of thing - but Ako could hardl appreciate the scenery.

Mostly because she felt like her heart was gonna fall out of her chest on every drop. They were up to the final one now, both her and Rinko pale-faced, having had to tuck their cough masks off just to give themselves enough room to breathe.

"Th, this is the last one, I think..." Ako said, hoping saying it aloud would make it true. Rinko was staring straight ahead, not responding, and for a second Ako worried something about the ride had made her shut off.

"-- hugging?" Rinko murmured.

"Uhm.. ahaha, if, you think that'll make this eas-"

"No, I mean, well, Ran and Tomoe are...!"

Ako gasped and leaned forward, peering over the shoulder of the large man in front of him to look in the cart ahead. True to Rinko's words, Ran was clinging to Tomoe instead of the handlebars, a slightly frazzled look on her face.

"It worked!" Ako chirped. The man looked over at her. Tomoe and Ran did, also, which was arguably worse. Wait, she didn't have the mask -

Then the plunge began again, and all five of them - Ako, Rinko, Tomoe, Ran, and the man, screamed for their lives.

* * *

Ako stumbled off the ride feeling like her legs were made of the same cotton candy they'd been eating earlier, huffing and puffing as she tried to reclaim her breath. The last downhill section had lasted for what felt like half an hour, and she could still feel the wind whistling past her ears.

Rinko looked pretty normal, in comparison, minus how messy her hair was. She was giving Ako firm, reasurring pats on the back, though, so Ako could forgive her for trying to act brave. No way she was unaffected by such a torturous experience.

"Ako!"

Oh. Right.

Tomoe hurried over, Ran in tow, glancing between Rinko and Ako for a second. Tomoe leaned down, reaching down to squeeze Ako's shoulder. "You okay? You aren't going to throw up or anything, are you?"

Ako grimaced, because hearing 'throw up' made her kind of want to, but there were more important things on her mind. Like talking her way out of this. "N, no, I'm fine! I mean, a little frazzled, but -"

"Isn't it a little late for you guys to be out?" Ran asked from behind her. The traitor. Where did she get off, hugging her sister and making her try and hook them up

Ako didn't say any of that, though. "We just, uhm, lost track of time."

"And the sunglasses?" Ran asked.

"... T, they're in style this season..." Rinko tried to supply. Tomoe and Ran both looked at her, and she looked down at her feet, scuffing her shoes against the ground bashfully.

Ako realized she had to give up the ghost, but giving up the ghost was hard. The ghost was cool, and her friend, and had led her this far. "Uhm, well - Moca told us you were gonna hang out here."

"So you just wanted to be with us?" Tomoe blinked, putting her hand on her hip as she stood up. "You could have just asked."

Rinko glanced over at Ako, and Ako stood up, took a deep breath as she tried to be brave and cool and *smart* -

"Sis why aren't you kissing Ran!?"

"Eh."

"Eh?"

"Ehh..."

\-- okay, not the set of reactions she was hoping for. Tomoe looked mildly bemused, Ran looked shocked, and Rinko looked - like she'd rather be anywhere but here, frankly. As ever, Rinko was the most sympathetic person in the room, in Ako's mind.

"Okay, let me - uhm. Sis, you like Ran, right? And I noticed you guys getting closer!" She wished she had the fries to demonstrate - she was forced to press her palms together to approximate them. "But right after I thought you guys turned a corner, you guys got like thiiiis."

Ako spread her palms wide, as far as she could without pulling a muscle. Rinko shook her head, and Ako halved the distance between her hands. Rinko nodded.

"So I thought... you wanted to date her, but were scared about making Afterglow weird, or something. But you deserve to be happy, sis! And I'm sure Ran wouldn't think you were weird! She wouldn't let it ruin your friendship! Right, Ran?"

Desperate, Ako turned towards Ran. Ran was rubbing the back of her head. Tomoe, at some point, had started laughing - Ako wasn't sure when.

"You - good lord - " Tomoe laughed again, bringing her fist up to her mouth, coughing into it to try and cover her laughter.

"Tomoe, don't laugh so much," Ran huffed. Tomoe rolled her eyes affectionately. "Ran and I were *already* dating, Ako," Tomoe explained, walking over to her girlfriend (apparently?) and wrapping her arm around her shoulder. Ran leaned into the contact, which made the whole 'already dating' thing pretty believable.

"I was just worried about you finding out because... I guess I was scared you'd think I wouldn't pay you as much attention anymore. Or you'd want to stop bugging me so I could spend more time with Ran. Or whatever."

"I told you you should have told her," Ran murmured.

"Oh, so you want me to tell everyone about this *now*? That's a turnaround," Tomoe grinned, and Ran pouted some more, blushed slightly. She elbowed her girlfriend in the side, but Tomoe being Tomoe, it didn't really have any effect.

Ako whimpered - at some point, she'd felt like she was on the verge of crying. "So you aren't mad?"

"Nah," Tomoe said, and Ako immediately hopped forward, hugging her sister tight around the waist. She probably got some of Ran in there too, but whatever. If Ran was making her sister happy, she deserved a hug.

"Sorry," Tomoe breathed, reaching down to pat her little sister's head. "You're a lot older than I think you are, sometimes. You notice stuff like this. Guess you're at that age."

Ako didn't get why Tomoe glanced over at Rinko when she said that, but after a second Tomoe motioned her towards the hug pile with her head. Ran rolled her eyes, but waved her over, too.

"Come on, get in on this," Ran shrugged. "We might as well make this as dumb as possible."

Rinko hesitated a second, but Ako reached her hand out from around her sister, and Rinko stepped forward, taking Ako's hand in hers. Before long, Rinko was hugging Ako from the side, Ako was hugging Tomoe, and Tomoe was hugging Ran. Ran - awkwardly pat Rinko on the back. It's not like she knew her that well.

But hey, it felt nice in the moment. Ako was surrounded by her favorite people in the world, Tomoe and Rinko, and that was almost too much happiness for one little necromancer to take.

* * *

"Refreshed the scorch!" Rinde yelled over the din of battle. Cappuccino was a much better tank than Lunamaria's skeletons, as much as she was reluctant to admit it. She hadn't realized it when she'd met him, but he was a paladin. Between his shields and his self-healing she didn't think he'd taken a single point of damage the entire dungeon.

The fact that her summons were handling the adds was enough to salvage Lunamaria's pride, anyway.

[Darkfried the Wanderer] was a different story. The boss still hit like a tank filled with trucks filled with bricks, a single swing of his sword deleting any one of Cappuccino's shields.

"Curse of Exhaustion!" Lunamaria yelled, smacking her staff into the ground. Slowly, the wave of dark energy pressed down on [Darkfried the Wanderer], his movements becoming more sluggish. Cappuccino raised his shield to block a lethargic blow as one of Rinde's fire spells lanced into his side. They had him down to about twenty percent, now - good time, in Lunamaria's books.

"Wait," Cappuccino drawled, glancing over his shoulder. "I forgot to tell you guys, he converts the first debuff into a-"

With a roar, [Darkfried the Wanderer] smacked the patch of armor Lunamaria's curse had sunk into, the dark burn turning into an angry red glow. With renewed speed and force - more than he'd had to start with - he smacked Cappuccino aside, sending the paladin crashing into the wall.

"Oh noooo... I'm truly defeated..." Cappuccino whined. Lunamaria winced.

"Tell us that earlier!" She huffed to cover her own embarrassment, Cappuccino prying himself off the wall - stumbling to the left, then to the right.

"Did that apply confusion...?" Rinde murmured, raising her staff for a cleanse spell - only for [Darkfried the Wanderer] to smack his sword into the ground. A harsh shockwave crashed into Cappuccino, sending him spiraling off the edge of the platform they were battling on.

"Ahhh." Cappuccino hummed as he fell, not sounding particularly perturbed even as his voice faded from hearing. Weird guy. She hoped his repair costs weren't too bad.

"Should we just leave...?" Rinde murmured as she stepped beside Lunamaria, raising her staff. True, they could probably save on repair costs and get this guy down on the third run -

But Lunamaria wasn't about to back down. Not when her and Rinde were still up! They'd gotten through way worse than this together.

"You just keep the damage going," Lunamaria instructed, raising her staff. "I'll blow all my summon cooldowns."

"Do you think I can deal enough to get him down before you run out?"

"I know you can. Shall we begin?"

[Darkfried the Wanderer] turned towards the pair - the curse-turned-buff was beginning to fade, at least. That made her job easier.

"A, alright!" Rinde agreed. A large fireball began forming on her staff, and the channeling was enough to get Darkfried's aggro onto her - the giant turned its head towards her, massive claymore beginning to raise.

A pair of skeleton warriors formed at Rinde's feet, swords raised to parry the giant blow. They crumbled beneath the force of it, but the damage was kept off Rinde. The fireball slammed into Darkfried, pushing the giant backwards with the force of it.

Ten percent, nine percent - the various flame debuffs were ticking him down fast, the secret to Lunamaria and Rinde being able to do so many bosses by themselves. Nothing could beat the damage of a fire mage in full swing.

"Go for the finish!" Lunamaria declared, and Rinde didn't even need to reply. She took a step back, swirling her staff around herself, bright orange runes forming around her feet. Pyroclasm took about a year and a half to channel, and bosses would usually interrupt it before you were even halfway done with it.

Even with Darkfried ambling over, he probably could have, too. If it weren't for the massive skeletal dragon suddenly slamming into his side, scrabbling at his armor with its claws. Darkfried was able to smack it aside, raised its sword to finish it off -

And then, of course, the Pyroclasm crashed into his side. They'd had to actually reduce the visual effects on the thing because of it crashing people's computers, but even after that patch Lunamaria still took a second to process what was going on. Angry fire surged into Darkfried, and after a moment, the boss clattered into nothing but scattered chunks of armor, the massive claymore burying into the ground.

"We...?" Rinde blinked.

"We did it!" Lunamaria confirmed, hurrying over to hug her partner from the side, picking her up and swinging her around. Lunamaria was tall, unlike the girl that played her, and it afforded her certain advantages like this.

[Broadsword of Demise]  
[Helm of Demise]  
[Shoulderplates of Demise]

"... This is all tank stuff," Rinde pouted, even as Lunamaria hugged her. Lunamaria just waved the concerns off, though.

"Whatever. If we let Cappuccino have all of this, we won't have to bother paying him."

"Oh, right, I should rez him...!" Rinde hurried over to the edge of the arena, trying to find the exact spot he'd fallen off of. Resurrections could be finnicky when dealing with death from falling.

Which was good, because it gave Lunamaria time to crouch down beside the little pile of crystals in the corner, inspect it until she found another Eternal Flame gem. That made twenty.

Perfect.

By the time she was done, Cappuccino was already back up, trying on the various pieces of equipment he'd just gotten. Rinde was off in the corner, drinking a mana restoration item, so that gave Lunamaria room to wander over to Cappuccino, all subtle-like.

"Do you do jewelcrafting?"

"Hm? Oh, sure. Most paladins do. Only way to get any healing power onto your swords."

A moment later, Lunamaria was handing a treasure trove of mats and recipes over to him, a trade window filled with months of farming. Eternal Flames could only be found in high end boss rooms, after all, and only once per character.

Rinde got up from her drink just as Cappuccino finished his work, walking over to the two of them.

"I think we blew too many cooldowns to keep going... maybe we could see what the trash is like in the next -"

Lunamaria, twirling his cloak about her and pulling her hood down, got down to her knees and pulled out a ring from her pocekt.

"Rinde Firesong, will you marry me?"

"... Eh."

"Uhm, I mean -" Lunamaria stammered, "you get a lot of bonuses, like exclusive necklaces and stuff, and we can have a shared inventory... and, we always play together anyway! And you can give me the keys to your house. And - I mean, Lunamaria Firesong is a pretty cool character name, too..."

Later, Ako would learn that Rinko shrieked so loudly that her mother had rushed in with a first aid kit.

For right now, all Lunamaria had to go on was Rinde slamming the 'yes' button so many times that the game lagged out for a second. A moment later, true to Lunamaria's suggestion, her in game name changed from Lunamaria Blackheart to Lunamaria Firesong.

"I would have just dueled you for it, but you would have won... aoe spells kind of wreck skeletons, they should really patch tha-"

Rinde was already hugging at Lunamaria's neck, so tightly that Ako felt a little choked up in real life. Yeah, that was the reason.

"Also, uhm. Would you wanna see a movie tomorrow...?"

Rinko squealed so loudly that her dad came in, too.

* * *

Cappuccino Rye sat on the back of a wagon, not entirely sure where it would take him. He'd never been good at reading the in-game maps, but he was pretty sure he was heading in the direction of the water kingdoms, anyway. Unlike most players, he liked the underwater dungeons. They were kind of soothing.

Off in the distance, he spotted a level 3 player running in circles, jumping randomly, sheathing and unsheating her weapons. She was a swordswoman, dual wielding the starting swords with exactly as much grade as you'd expect from a newbie.

A level fifty seven boar ambled over, kicked her to the side. She was launched into the air, fell beside the wagon, then died.

Cappuccino hopped off the back of his ride, mourning the lost seven silver pieces, then snapped his fingers to resurrect the newbie. Their name was Zjzaj Aaaaaaaa, the greatest name Cappuccino had ever seen in this game.

Zjzaj pulled herself back up to her feet, turned in circles five times, then sat down.

"You rolling your face on the keyboard?" Cappuccino asked.

"I don't play games," Zjzaj responded, finally sitting still. She was watching that boar warily, though.

"... How'd it go?"

"You have an in-law now."

Zjzaj hopped up to their feet, then hopped in place seven more times.

"What?"

"Just kidding. It's an in-game marriage thing. It was cute, though. Hey, wanna be Zjzaj Rye?"

"I'm not gonna play this game again. I just came to talk to you."

Cappuccino crossed their arms, pointing to the floating text above Zjzaj's head. "How'd you get to level 3?"

"I just kept wandering around and they kept giving me experience. This game seems kind of easy."

Cappuccino marveled at the sheer dedication it took to get lost enough to reach level 3 just from discovery experience, but that didn't matter. "Anyway, they're fine. The Moca-chan master plan worked. You owe me a hundred yen."

"I didn't say I was going to pay you for this. Actually, I didn't ask you to do anything."

"No, you asked me to with your eyes."

"Mm."

The two of them, Cappuccino and Zjzaj, sat in silence for a second. The boar glanced their way.

"... Hey, how'd you get that high level, Moca? You don't play that much."

With a grin, Cappuccino tossed their shield over at the boar, just before they cast a spell that took all aggro off of them. The boar still ambled over, eyes locked on Zjzaj.

"Points cards, Tomoe," Cappuccino explained as the boar knocked Zjzaj into the side of the nearest cliff. "Points cards."

And that was when Tomoe decided that she'd never understand video games.

**Author's Note:**

> Later that day, Ako and Rinko announced their video game marriage to the rest of Roselia. Sayo cried.


End file.
